


The Right Thing

by ThatRavenclawBitch



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 15:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2778437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRavenclawBitch/pseuds/ThatRavenclawBitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle has some regrets about her decision in the midseason finale. Spoilers for episode 4x11 Heroes and Villains!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Right Thing

She made it all the way back to town before her resolve broke. Her feet were rubbed raw from walking miles in her high heels, but she didn’t feel the pain. It was drowned out by the pain in her heart, a sharp throbbing sensation that felt as though her entire chest had been hollowed out leaving raw edges exposed like a nerve.

Rumple had broken her heart before. This wasn’t new. But before she’d always had hope. She’d always believed in their love, even when he failed to. Now she’d lost that faith and it made her heartbreak immeasurably worse.

She’d stayed at the town line, her back turned on her husband, for several long moments. She could hear him crying, calling out to her though he had no way of knowing if she was still there. She couldn’t turn back and look at him. If she did, she would give in. To see him crumpled and broken would appeal to the part of her that always wanted to help him no matter how lost a cause he was. So she didn’t look back.

“I love you,” Rumple whimpered to the still night air. “Please, Belle. I love you, I swear it.”

Belle felt the tears starting again. She knew he loved her. It just wasn’t enough. She wasn’t enough.

If she stayed another moment she would break and there’d be no coming back. So she started the slow trudge back to town, keeping her eyes trained on the asphalt beneath her feet and not daring to look back at the broken mess of a man behind her.

She had to do this. Maybe in a world without magic, a world where Rumple wasn’t cursed, where he was powerless, he’d be able to find it in himself to do the right thing. No more killing, no more curses, no more magic. Just a man.

Right now all she saw was the beast.

She reached the pawnshop at long last, the bright light proclaiming it the property of Mr. Gold. She averted her eyes from the sign and opened the door.

The smell of him permeated the shop, his presence palpable as though he’d turn the corner at any moment. Belle took a shuddering gasp, wiping at the tears in her eyes. He didn’t deserve her tears.

Making her way to the back of the shop she was confronted with her half packed suitcase which she’d abandoned when she found the gauntlet. She wasn’t sure why, but it was the sight of that suitcase more than anything else that broke her.

An hour ago she’d been packing for their honeymoon. They were going to see the world together. Spend the rest of their lives together. It would be everything they had ever wanted.

_We can have it all._ Rumple had said.

But all she wanted was him.

She collapsed to the ground like she had weeks ago after her encounter with the mirror. But this time, Rumple wasn’t there to catch her. He never would be again. She had banished him and there was no way for him to return.

What had she done?

Belle gripped the dagger in her hands, the real one this time. Her tears blurred her vision, her chest heaving.

“Rumplestiltskin, I summon thee!” she called to the empty room, her voice tremulous. But there was no tingle of magic, no sorcerer appearing at her side bouncing on the balls of his feet with a wry comment.

“Rumple!” she called again. “I’m sorry, Rumple. Come back, please. Come back!”

She knew it was no use. He was in a world without magic. His injured leg had crumpled beneath him as soon as he crossed the town line. He couldn’t hear her pleas. But she tried anyway, calling out his name until her voice rasped and gripping the dagger so tight that it cut into her palm, dripping blood across the wooden shop floor.

“Rumple,” she whimpered. “I love you, too.”

She would never be able to tell him again.

She could tell herself she’d done the right thing. But she’d never make herself believe it.


End file.
